Empowerment via the new media

According to a recent report by the Pew Research Center, young African Americans and Hispanics
are among the most avid users of the internet, accessed by lower-cost
mobile phones, instead of computers. This may be the beginning of a
reversal of a decade-old trend of lagging computer use in minority
households, which would add to existing handicaps.

I still receive — and welcome — the old reliable cards and
letters. There’s really nothing like a handwritten note from a
constituent you’ve known for years. To keep the residents of my
district abreast of what I’m doing for them in Washington, I also
continue producing printed newsletters, which are delivered by mail to
every residence and business address in Upper Manhattan.

But times are changing fast. In recent years, the bulk of
communications from constituents are received by fax or e-mails —
instead of paper snail mail. Likewise, I am increasingly using
electronic methods to send my messages out to constituents — such as
Twitter and Facebook, in addition to weekly e-newsletters. More
recently, I’ve started to utilize a variety of even more innovative
online and mobile applications. Using more sophisticated interactive
applications, I am increasingly engaging in two-way conversations with
my constituents.

Just last June, I reached out to more than 80,000 residents of my
district in four telephone town hall meetings. These electronic
gatherings allowed thousands of constituents to hear from me on a
variety of important subjects, from health care reform to jobs —
without leaving their homes. In the same conversation, they were able
to ask me questions (and get immediate responses from me), or to
correspond with me later via my congressional website.

The so-called new media allows me to communicate directly with my
constituents — without the filter of the news media. That doesn’t make
the press any less important in providing in-depth information and
analysis. Rather, this direct, timely, and unbiased flow of data
increasingly enables my constituents to receive, and react to, the most
recent developments in Washington far faster than in the past. That’s
good for democracy and for the residents of my district.

Just last week, I became the first member of Congress to launch a
new online and mobile application that allows me to share my voting
record and viewpoints on major bills. It will also enable me to poll
constituents on vital issues via their Facebook accounts or smartphones.

This application is my latest effort to interact with younger,
tech-savvy constituents, and nearly 500 of them are already using this
vote and polling application. It is also part of a trend of growing
internet usage by younger people (most notably African American and
Hispanic) in urban centers such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and
Los Angeles. What we’re witnessing is the shrinking of the so-called
racial digital divide of the last decade.

I want to utilize every possible means of communication to interact
with everyone in my district. And I believe engagement with
cutting-edge technology not only enhances our democracy but empowers us
as we compete with the rest of the world.

Cross Posted from the Huffington Post